is a notable difference with triangular decompositions (even the equiprojectable decomposition), which, in general, do not preserve multiplicities. The RUR shares with equiprojectable decomposition the property of producing an output with coefficients of relatively small size. For zero-dimensional systems, the RUR allows retrieval of the numeric values of the solutions by solving a single univariate polynomial and substituting them in rational functions. This allows production of certified approximations of the solutions to any given precision. Moreover, the univariate polynomial of the RUR may be factorized, and this gives a RUR for every irreducible factor. This provides the prime decomposition of the given ideal (that is the primary decomposition of the radical of the ideal). In practice, this provides an output with much smaller coefficients, especially in the case of systems with high multiplicities. Contrarily to triangular decompositions and equiprojectable decompositions, the RUR is not defined in positive dimension. Solving numerically General solving algorithms The general numerical algorithms which are designed for any system of nonlinear equations work also for polynomial systems. However the specific methods will generally be preferred, as the general methods generally do not allow one to find all solutions. In particular, when a general method does not find any solution, this is usually not an indication that there is no solution. Nevertheless, two methods deserve to be mentioned here. Newton's method may be used if the number of equations is equal to the number of variables. It does not allow one to find all the solutions nor to prove that there is no solution. But it is very fast when starting from a point which is close to a solution. Therefore, it is a basic tool for the homotopy continuation method described below. Optimization is rarely used for solving polynomial systems, but it succeeded, circa 1970, in showing that a system of 81 quadratic equations in 56 variables is not inconsistent. With the other known methods, this remains beyond the possibilities of modern technology, . This method consists simply in minimizing the sum of the squares of the equations. If zero is found as a local minimum, then it is attained at a solution. This method works for overdetermined systems, but outputs an empty information if all local minimums which are found are positive. Homotopy continuation method This is a semi-numeric method which supposes that the number of equations is equal to the number of variables. This